It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote my blog and in that time so much more has happened in the run up to Australia.  Last time I wrote that I had almost obtained all the sponsorship money for my trip, well now this is completed and I managed to raise MORE than the money required for the trip, which is truly fantastic.

To my joy Lush, a global cosmetic company came forward with the remaining money and generously the Borough of Poole and Poole Tourism has also donated some money.  As I managed to raise a little more money than required the remaining money has bought me clothing with all my sponsors logos on them and a tripod and microphone also for my trip – more on this will be explained later.

The meetings in Australia have now expanded and I have also gained further interest from the press in Canberra.  I decided to make contact with ABC 666 Canberra Radio and a producer from Alex Sloan’s morning show came back to me and said they would love to interview me on the telephone before I arrived and then get me in to the studio when I am in Canberra.  This is fantastic, as it means I am able to spread the word globally about my project! So on Thursday 30^th July I carried out an interview with the radio station, which can be listened to here: Rachel Light interview.

Since Lush has kindly sponsored me, they too are working hard on obtaining press during my trip.  At the moment I am in liaison with their UK press office to arrange this.  It is also pretty big news for Parkeon too, another sponsor of mine, as at the moment they are getting ready to deploy a contactless electronic ticketing system using smartcard technology for the process of charging patrons for public transport.  Smartcard has already been deployed in Perth the only thing different for Canberra is they have no rail system.  Bizarrely my younger brother is a programmer for Parkeon in Poole, and the guy I am meeting with in Canberra used to be my brother’s boss.

Another piece of great news is a few weeks ago my mum suggested I should look in to a cameraman filming my trip seeing as I am having a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet with all these fantastic organisations in Australia.  I therefore made contact with Channel 4 and Sky to see if it was anything they would be interested in.  Unfortunately Sky came back and said they are already supporting many projects and they did not have the budget.  However Channel 4 suggested I contact a production company to see if it would be something of interest to them, as Channel 4 use production companies to make documentaries.  They sent me a link for a directory of production companies and a came across a company who have been absolutely amazing!  Glasshead, based in London, are interested in my trip and also in my plight to improve education and training on health and fitness to young athletes in the UK.  A lovely lady Faye called me and has told me Glasshead are working with SkillsActive already and looking to put together a production for the Olympics and this could fit it.  HOW AMAZING IS THAT!

Unfortunately because of the short notice they are unable to send a camera person with me for my trip, so I have been loaned a camera from Sport England and will have to film myself.  Now I am no camera person and have no idea what I am doing with a camera, let alone made it any good for TV.  I therefore arranged to meet with a freelance news reporter, Richard Slee, who runs his own company called  Look out Media and well, what can I say, a truly kind man who spent nearly two hours with me talking to me about my project and how best to film, shots to take and what will happen when I return.  He has also said he will help me get my story on to the local news.  Now the pressure is really on!  Best get good with that camera…  I’ve spent the last few days filming everything and I’ve still got so much to learn!

Once again I would like to say thank you to all my sponsors:

• Lush
• Parkeon
• British Surfing Association
• SkillsActive/Nancy Ovens Trust
• Borough of Poole
• Poole Tourism
• John Maughan
• Talbot Heath
• Animal
• Sport England
• Young Athletes Training Academy
• Four friends Melissa King, Russell Palmer, Peter Light (younger brother), Janet Head

I would also like to say a massive THANK YOU to my mum, who has been so supportive to me, listened to me and helped me to stay strong and focused.

Only 5 days to go now. Stay tuned for more news…

So it’s been nearly 7 weeks since I was successful in obtaining a bursary from Nancy Ovens Trust and SkillsActive.  The bursary was awarded to help get me to Australia this August, so I can carry out my comparison project of sport in Australia with that of the UK.

I currently work as a volunteer fitness coach and personal trainer for the Young Athletes Training Academy (YATA), a new company set up in Dorset to offer increased support and education for children in sport.  YATA has very little money and all the money the company earns go back in to the company to help offer increased services and facilities for children in sport in Dorset. 

It is apparent there is very little in the way of support in the UK for children in sport and many clubs, from my experience in Dorset, are crying out for additional funds to help with improving the fitness and strength abilities of children in sport.  After much research and many appointments with key sport divisions in the UK it appears our country offers nothing at grass roots level.  This of course got me thinking that perhaps if we were to educate and support our children from a young age in sport, we might have a better opportunity to produce more and more world class athletes. 

At the moment many children drop out of sport and this could be for many reasons such as injury and lack of interest.  If children were educated from a young age in to how their body works and why things such as stretching and diet are so important, I believe our children will have a much better opportunity in sport.  Most of these children in sport are incredibly dedicated and our country lets them down by not offering them a chance to develop to world class levels.  Of course there are facilities and support available to elite athletes, but you have to be identified to receive these benefits and that is very difficult.  See www.yatasports.com for more information on what services the Young Athletes Training Academy offers.

Australia is streets ahead in sport and they consistently produce world class athletes from all sports.  I initially decided to run a comparison study on swimming and after looking in to briefly what Australia does for their swimmers, they have a much more in depth coaching system and train less hours in the pool and more on the land.  This way of training has inspired me to think that perhaps they are on to something here.  So I therefore started to make arrangements with Swimming Australia and British Swimming to compare training schemes, systems etc.  To date I have met with Michael Scott from British Swimming who was extremely helpful and supportive, the information he provided me however will be detailed later in my report and is only geared towards elite athletes and nothing for the younger athletes.  Mr Scott suggested I meet with Nick Sellwood from English Swimming to help, however this does appear to be very difficult, as Mr Sellwood is never available to meet with me which is a real disappointment seeing as everyone else is very supportive.

The bursary I was awarded only contributed to 25% of the money I require to visit Australia, so I therefore have had to find the money from elsewhere.  Because the Young Athletes Training Academy has no money to support my trip the only way I can go is to reach out to other companies for sponsorship and in this particular climate it has proved extremely difficult.  However I believe in my trip and my project so much I have done everything in my power to make this trip happen.  Unfortunately British Swimming and the ASA have not contributed any money to my trip, which is a shame seeing as initially the whole basis of my trip is about swimming.  They have said all their money goes to the regional governing bodies.  This is fair enough and I appreciate donating £500 to my trip is just not affordable for them…

Recently the Young Athletes Training Academy has become involved with the British Surfing Association and has started to work with them on occasional strength and conditioning, as well as personal training services to their young athlete surfers.  After many conversations, the BSA have agreed to fund part of the trip in return I make appointments with key surfing organisations to discuss their Long Term Athlete Development Plan.  When I return from Australia the information I have obtained will be used in developing the UK LTAD for the BSA.

My trip to Australia and the reasons for going has raised quite a bit of interest locally.  After I was awarded the bursary I featured in two local publications and was interviewed by the BBC for Radio Solent and also the website.  This has aided my plight for raising more funds and the local council, Borough of Poole, also got involved.  My contact there, Duncan Kerr, has been working extremely hard for me by taking my sponsorship proposal to many different companies.  It caught the eye of one company in particular – Parkeon – a large international manufacturing firm with offices in Australia.  They are extremely interested in my work for children in sport and decided to offer further funding to help my trip to Australia.  Further funds have now been raised from the following:

• Talbot Heath School
• The father of one of my clients Amelia Maughan, the fastest 12 year old swimmer in the world at this time.
• Two friends Melissa King and Russell Palmer
• And Animal clothing are providing me with clothing to raffle off and luggage for my trip

I am still to raise a little more money, but even so I now have a majority of the money and have managed to book flights, accommodation and pay for my visa.

I would like to thank all of my sponsors including the Nancy Ovens Trust/Skills Active, for supporting me, without your generous contributions my trip would not be possible.

My two week trip in Australia has just got bigger and bigger.  I am now no longer focusing on swimming alone and I have many different appointments booked with fantastic sporting organisations, all of whom seem to be extremely helpful and only too happy to help.

My current itinerary exists of the following:

• Wednesday 12^th Aug: leave the UK.  Change flights at Dubai, Singapore, and Brisbane
• Friday 14^th Aug: arrive Canberra, Australia (Rest and Recovery over the weekend)
• Monday 17^th Aug: meet with the Australian Institute of Sport
• Monday evening meet: with Canberra Times, who are running a feature story on me
• Tuesday 18^th Aug: meet with Swimming Australia
• Tuesday evening: meet with Parkeon Press officer
• Wednesday 19^th Aug: morning fly to Brisbane
• Thursday 20^th Aug: drive to Surfing Australia and meet to discuss their LTAD and visit their high performance centre
• Friday 21^st Aug: meet with Queensland Government to discuss sporting opportunities
• Friday 21^st Aug: afternoon meet with Brisbane Broncos (Rugby Team) watch them train and visit their high performance centre
• Friday 21^st Aug: evening meet with Brisbane Times, who are also running a feature story on my visit
• Monday 24^th Aug: spend the day with Michael Bohl and Stephanie Rice (triple Olympic gold medallist)
• Tuesday 25^th Aug: catch up day and any additional appointments add here
• Wednesday 26^th Aug: fly home to the UK

As you can see my diary and trip to Australia is not only extremely busy, but very very exciting and I cannot wait to go.  I am going to learn so much whilst I am away and really believe when I return to the UK I can make a MASSIVE difference to young athletes in the UK.

Please keep reading my blog for further news and developments of what is happening!  Only 4 weeks and 3 days to go…

Recent research from Sport England and the CCPR certainly seem to suggest that is the case.

Volunteers are at the heart of most sports clubs

Sport England recently reported on their quarterly results for their Active People Survey, which provides the largest  survey of sport and active recreation undertaken in Europe. While the headline results showed promise, with 6,822,000 people (16 and over) now playing sport three times a week and regular participation holding firm since December 2008, as well as satisfaction with local sports provision increasing, there were some worrying trends including a decrease in volunteering.

Could it be that volunteering, along with competitive participation and membership, has suffered from the current economic environment?

With less disposable income it seems that participation in sporting activities, whether as a competitor or volunteer, is one of the things that suffers. A recent Times article, based on research by the CCPR, suggested that the recession could mean the final whistle for 6,000 community sports clubs due to falling membership.

The CCPR research noted that “volunteering is also being affected by the economic downturn, with more than a fifth of clubs saying that the circumstances have had a negative or very negative impact on attracting and retaining volunteers “.

Within our sector, volunteers play a crucial role in delivering activities across sport and active leisure, with volunteer hours equivalent to over 50,000 full time roles. These roles  can range from the obvious ones such as coaches and officials to many more roles behind the scenes such as those who maintain equipment or look after the finances.  One of the key barriers to volunteering, particularly in the front-line roles, is often the cost of training. With both clubs and volunteers currently suffering from a lack of funds this obviously impacts upon maintaining both the number of volunteers and their skills.

SkillsActive often plays a part in directing funding into the sector, and support a number of bursaries and projects which help those in the sector in funding their development. Our London and South West coaching bursaries were a huge success and there are a number of bursaries to coaches still available in some regions. In the East of England  the East-Links: Leading the Field programme provides opportunities in fitness and officiating as well as targeting coaches. Meanwhile in playwork, there is funding available for playworkers to undertake level 3 qualifications, allowing advancement of skills for those in or looking to join the sector.

For more information on volunteering, whether in sport or other areas, Volunteering England have a whole host of information on their website with a large section dedicated to sport. 

If you’ve seen the impact of the recession on volunteering, share your views below.

For the past four years we have invited applications from across our sector for funding, courtesy of SkillsActive and the Nancy Ovens Trust, to allow individuals to undertake a personal development project to enhance skills and knowledge outside of the day-to-day work environment.

Rachel Light helping young athletes

This has encouraged development in ways quite removed from traditional training, with work experience and shadowing of top coaches in a certain field proving a popular way to glean the personal insight that perhaps doesn’t exist when undertaking a training qualification.

This year, out of over 50 applicants, we are delighted to have chosen five bursars who will be blogging for us over the course of their time on the bursary. They’ll be introducing themselves here over the coming month, but here is a quick introduction to two of them.

Rachel Light
Dorset swimming coach Rachel Light plans to spend two weeks in Australia this summer to discover the secrets of the nation’s sporting success so that she can assist top young athletes in this country.

Rachel has focussed her work on, and is particularly passionate about, those just outside of the elite sporting programmes. It is difficult for those just outside the top programmes to continue at a high level, so Rachel assists by providing them with guidance ranging from nutrition to strength and conditioning that they would otherwise receive from their NGB.

Judo coach Mike Newton

Read more about Rachel’s bursary here and check back over the coming months to see how her plans for the trip progress. You can also listen to Rachel discussing her trip, and read more, over on the BBC Dorset website.

Mike Newton
Rutland judo coach Mike Newton plans to spend a month next spring in Japan, the home of judo, in order to shadow top children’s judo coaches. Having helped establish Vale Judo Club in 2003, Mike has since established the club as one of the leading clubs in the region with members in national squads, as well as developing a strong schools judo programme.

You can read more about Mike’s dedication to the sport and youngsters, along with his planned trip to Japan here, while you’ll find him blogging here soon.